Examples Of Historicism In The Crucible
Historicism around the Crucible
Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible during a time of great fear as the cold war had been kicked off several years earlier. It was a time of panic and the people of the country were willing to extend that fear towards anything that seemed wrong even without any evidence so long as a person of great authority backed it. The McCarthyism period resembled the Salem Witch Trials and allowed Miller to mirror his writing in a way that showed the people their errors.
McCarthyism began because a person of authority saw a weakness in the striving masses and took advantage. Miller saw this as the problem it was and set out to inform the masses through the use of his book, The Crucible. He knew that slandering the
actual individual, Joseph McCarthy, would result in his imprisonment as it did, “Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were… Arthur Miller” (Arthur Miller PBS). The red scare allowed Joseph to use no evidence, other than a self-created list with whom he let no one else see and was eventually found out to have never been written, to accuse anyone he didn’t agree with or approve of and the people were in full support of his accusations. Miller knew how much power a man could obtain when the people rally with him and created the Crucible to show the mirroring between the Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The puritans of Salem represented the scared masses and the witches and spirits were a representation of the threat of communism and communists infiltrating the country. So while the Crucible is plotted around the time period of the puritans and their outdated beliefs, when looked at while using Historicism it shows a mirror image of McCarthyism.
The Salem Witch Trials were the basis of Miller’s writing and were used as a mirroring entity for the current events around him namely the Red Scare. He saw a distinct correlation between Salem and America during both time periods that shook him to his core and pushed him to write material that pushed risks for him as an author as people who even slightly disagreed with the ongoing events were being labeled communists, “...Enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy’s accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him” (History.com). The people of Salem weren’t able to discard their beliefs and move forward and that allowed the newer generation, the children, to use that to their advantage and to gain substantial power within the town. No authority was greater and that only encouraged them to keep going with their scam, and the same happened with Joseph McCarthy and his list. He used his non-existent list to gain unchecked power and refused to stop when he had enough which ultimately led to his downfall, “ It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate” (History.com), and the children’s too.
Taking a look at the Crucible through a Historicism point of view allows the reader to realize how Miller’s writing during the Red Scare shows in his view of the Salem Witch Trials. He saw the mirroring entities of both time periods and realized that while he couldn’t object to McCarthy’s accusation directly he could inform the general public through his writings. Overall his writing is an allegory for the Red Scare and the infiltration of communism in America.
Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible during a time of great fear as the cold war had been kicked off several years earlier. It was a time of panic and the people of the country were willing to extend that fear towards anything that seemed wrong even without any evidence so long as a person of great authority backed it. The McCarthyism period resembled the Salem Witch Trials and allowed Miller to mirror his writing in a way that showed the people their errors.
McCarthyism began because a person of authority saw a weakness in the striving masses and took advantage. Miller saw this as the problem it was and set out to inform the masses through the use of his book, The Crucible. He knew that slandering the
actual individual, Joseph McCarthy, would result in his imprisonment as it did, “Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were… Arthur Miller” (Arthur Miller PBS). The red scare allowed Joseph to use no evidence, other than a self-created list with whom he let no one else see and was eventually found out to have never been written, to accuse anyone he didn’t agree with or approve of and the people were in full support of his accusations. Miller knew how much power a man could obtain when the people rally with him and created the Crucible to show the mirroring between the Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The puritans of Salem represented the scared masses and the witches and spirits were a representation of the threat of communism and communists infiltrating the country. So while the Crucible is plotted around the time period of the puritans and their outdated beliefs, when looked at while using Historicism it shows a mirror image of McCarthyism.
The Salem Witch Trials were the basis of Miller’s writing and were used as a mirroring entity for the current events around him namely the Red Scare. He saw a distinct correlation between Salem and America during both time periods that shook him to his core and pushed him to write material that pushed risks for him as an author as people who even slightly disagreed with the ongoing events were being labeled communists, “...Enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy’s accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him” (History.com). The people of Salem weren’t able to discard their beliefs and move forward and that allowed the newer generation, the children, to use that to their advantage and to gain substantial power within the town. No authority was greater and that only encouraged them to keep going with their scam, and the same happened with Joseph McCarthy and his list. He used his non-existent list to gain unchecked power and refused to stop when he had enough which ultimately led to his downfall, “ It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate” (History.com), and the children’s too.
Taking a look at the Crucible through a Historicism point of view allows the reader to realize how Miller’s writing during the Red Scare shows in his view of the Salem Witch Trials. He saw the mirroring entities of both time periods and realized that while he couldn’t object to McCarthy’s accusation directly he could inform the general public through his writings. Overall his writing is an allegory for the Red Scare and the infiltration of communism in America.